


It may be the frontier, but Elle Woods will not be sleeping on her own floor.

by je_t_oublie



Category: Legally Blonde - All Media Types, Legally Blonde - Hach/O'Keefe/Benjamin
Genre: Both POVs, Emmett is hopelessly infatuated, F/M, Fluff, Sharing a Bed, and very tired, is this one of those obligatory stories to write upon joining the LB fandom?, outrageously bad storage of woman's clothing (namely bras)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 07:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18868438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/je_t_oublie/pseuds/je_t_oublie
Summary: God, no wonder she’d had trouble studying before if her bed was this comfortable. The clicking stopped, and he looked up from his stretch. When she noticed him looking back, she raised a flirtatious eyebrow and drawled “Making yourself comfortable?”“I,” Emmett intentionally shuffled and sunk back slightly more into the voluminous blankets, “have already done my first year classes. It’s your turn to tell me, Miss Woods.”





	It may be the frontier, but Elle Woods will not be sleeping on her own floor.

**Author's Note:**

> An obligatory fic for joining the Legally Blonde fandom, I believe. The post-Cardassian garashir story of Deep Space Nine, if you will. Nevertheless, I hope it is as enjoyable as this past week first discovering Legally Blonde the Musical was for me.

It had become a comfortable ritual between them, far from the frustration and grudging amusement Emmett had first felt for the vapid and entitled girl who could barely conceive of the drive needed by those who couldn’t just buy themselves a degree with their daddy's money. Now instead of rifling through the glittering and mysterious objects that littered her desk and shelves as Elle scrambled to rescue her beautification items and protest, Emmett could abandon his shoes at the door and was presented a key to let himself in when he needed a quiet and warm place to mark papers. The few times Elle had visited his apartment to study when he was too snowed under with his own work to even consider the time needed to walk between dwellings had consisted more of wrinkled noses and her dragging one of the duvets off his bed to cower in from the cold rather than her original plan of using him as a human sound board for her to bounce case details off, his only interjections when the comfortable cadence of her voice became enthused, the comprehension of the relevance of the case becoming clear and, really, who would he be deceiving if he didn’t look up to see that look of pride? Plus, sometimes it helped to takes notes of his own, her unique perspective and context knowledge which might be relevant to class discussions, reminders of his stature of a teacher’s assistant he occasionally needed to cling to with his fingernails in the face of her friendship and unselfconscious affectionate touches. 

Spring hadn’t reached its hopeful fingers far out enough to actually warm up his poky apartment, and he never needed to feel guilt about using Elle's heater, so he pulled the ratty sleeves of his sweatshirt down over his hands and made the quick dash across campus to her room. The sleeves muffled the knock a bit so he listened carefully for an acknowledgement that didn’t come before pulling out his keyring, her glaringly pink key always easy to pick out from the rest, and took a deep fortifying breath before he opened the door on a room that could vary between neat as a little pink pin or a veritable hurricane of nicely matched outfits on every surface and… not too bad today. Well done, Elle. He toed off his shoes and tucked them beside the door with his satchel, pulling out the sheaf of papers that needed his attention. 

He had never really considered that becoming friends with Elle meant he’d develop an immunity to the sight of women’s bras, but hey, he more than anyone understood how quickly tidiness disappeared when there was too much to learn in too short a time, and he nudged an offending article towards her clothes hamper with a sensibly socked toe, just in case one of his missing pens was hiding under it. No such luck today, so he snuck one from the cup on her desk and folded himself into the tiny desk chair to lose himself in the final changes needed for the next semester’s tutorial syllabus. Ah, at least the glitter pen would make it obvious the last bits that needed Callahan's sign-off, even if he could already see the raised eyebrow. It was dull, endlessly dull but requiring of just enough engagement that the fingers rearranging his hair were a surprise and he batted behind him with his free hand, catching on fabric still cold from outside and stirring up a scent of perfume cut with crisp air and fresh leaves. There was a bright laugh, and a gloved hand caught his and tugged until he put down the pen with a sigh. 

“Hello, Elle.”

“Emmett!” The just as bright voice was sing-song and a siren that drew him around as surely as if she had spun the chair was in, but she was already straightening the pile of books she had somehow put on the table without him noticing. He stretched out his legs, awkwardly gangly compared to the delicate furniture, he knew, but they ached from being folded under the table and maybe he’d been here longer than he had thought, glancing guiltily out the window into darkness. Elle was shrugging off her coat, happily humming something that sounded poppy and he took the top book off the pile, flicking through the first chapter that he had horrible flashbacks of dragging himself through three years earlier. 

“Manage to finish your readings for tomorrow?” 

“I've read everything for this week.” And there was that pride, not as luminous as when she one-upped her ex-boyfriend in class or managed a compliment from a classmate, but with the assured knowledge she’d done well. Compared to what she was when they had first met, she had, and he gave her his most encouraging smile, putting his hand up for her elaborate high-five which she carried out with glee. “Mind testing me?” 

Emmett glanced back at his nearly finished tutorial syllabus, bedecked with glittering notes and inwardly grimaced. He’d have to be up early to finish that, but if she was asking for help then really, it had the bonus reminding him of the case details for following the class discussions too. 

“Sure thing.” He pushed his papers to the side and stood, turning the empty chair towards her with a flourish. Elle laughed and reached up to ruffle his hair again before she sat down and he spun her around to face the books and her computer, fingers tight on the back of the seat for control and hands warmed where her blonde curls fell on them from the force of the spin. He glanced around for another chair, already knowing there wouldn’t be one and resigning himself to the bed. He could hear her clicking through the files, already concentrating, as he swung his legs up and settled back into the pillows. God, no wonder she’d had trouble studying before if her bed was this comfortable. The clicking stopped, and he looked up from his stretch to see her giving him a strange look he hadn’t seen on her before. When she noticed him looking back, she raised a flirtatious eyebrow and drawled “Making yourself comfortable?” 

“I,” Emmett intentionally shuffled and sunk back slightly more into the voluminous blankets, “have already done my first year classes. It’s your turn to tell me, Miss Woods.” 

Elle huffed and flicked her curls. 

“Reno vs ACLU-“ 

“And ACLU is?” 

“American Civil Liberties Union.” 

“Mhm.” Emmett closed his eyes to listen to the case he already knew well. It really was a comfortable bed, and Elle’s voice had become so comfortably familiar as to just add to the warmth.  
“-berg vs New York…” and her voice was fading out, exhaustion pulling at his bones. 

\----------- 

Elle had just, very successfully she thought, argued against the need for a specific adults only zone on the internet when a quiet snore punctuated her closing statement. Wait, was he really-? There were at least two good points in there! She turned but forgot the protestation on the end of her tongue. Oh my god! Emmett looked so adorable curled up on the pink blankets that she had to cover her mouth to conceal a squeal. She rifled through her pockets for her phone because her Delta Nu sisters would be outraged if she didn’t send a photo of this. His sleeves had ridden up, the faded ink of scrawled reminders curling around bony wrists but his hands were lost in the shadows under his chin, and his hair was even more tousled than when she had unlocked the door and seen the shockingly tragic sight of the clear partings caused by running hands through short hair. Attractive when done to a handsome man, but frankly sad when self inflicted. 

Elle sent it off to the girls with nothing but a “!!!!!!” and quickly silenced her phone before she was bombarded with coos and suggestions and the cascade of text tones woke him up. He probably needed the sleep, woman did not survive on Red Bull alone, so presumably Emmett couldn’t either. Especially without the sorority training in preparation for spring break. On light feet, she tiptoed back to her computer and started copying her case summaries into her notebook, highlighting important bullet points with her glitter pens – there were some personal touches you just couldn’t do on a computer and she deserved better than Times New Roman, damn it.  
That finished, she stretched back in the chair far enough for her shoulders to click and to check on Emmett, still fast asleep but now sprawled over the middle of the bed. Now really, where would she sleep? A girl needed her beauty sleep, and Elle even more so after trekking through an entire week of law readings by Tuesday. She shut down her computer, still mulling it over. It would be mean to wake him, but even when her daddy had said frontier, Elle had no intention of sleeping on a floor. She was studying law, not… whatever it was when people cured sore backs! She huffed off to her changing curtain, still mindful enough not stomp, and sorted through her pajamas to find something that wouldn’t give him a heart attack if he woke up to see it. Aha, the winter pajamas Warner’s gramps had given her one Christmas! Long sleeves, no v-neck and loose shorts. He may be cute under all that scruff, but Warner wouldn’t like to hear that their T.A. had seen one of her silk nighties when he dumped Vivienne and proposed to her. She changed quickly, tossing her underwear towards the hamper and close enough! And had she really left her bra there? Oops, poor Emmett. 

He was still in the middle of the bed, and really, that was fine if it was Bruiser, he was a baby, but those were some nice long legs. Mmmm, imagine how much nicer they’d look in proper slacks. Elle shook herself back to concentration and untucked the edge of her duvet, carefully pulling it up to roll him to the side of the bed against the wall. A careful maneuver she’d perfected when her Delta Nu girls ended up sharing beds on movie nights and she poked the end of her tongue out in concentration as she got him to the perfect position that he wouldn’t roll back when she crawled in. Thank you, girls! Damn, if she hadn’t left her phone on the desk she could have taken another photo. Lights off, lights back on to quietly brush teeth, braid back her hair, and off again to curl under her half of the duvet. The warmth radiated through from Emmett on top of the covers and she snuggled into the pillow and closed her eyes.

\--------

Was that… flowers? Unless he’d left a window open (unlikely in this weather) he should not be smelling flowers from bed. The drumming of water faded in to his perception, and someone singing and oh god, was that-  
He cracked open one eye and it was pink. It was all pink. The sound of water increased, then turned off and Elle’s voice was muffled, presumably by a towel and oh god, he should not be imagining that. Emmett sat up, and promptly sunk another few inches into the blanket. What he could see of his trousers were even more wrinkled, and he picked at the cuffs of his sweatshirt before the curtain rail rattled and Elle was there, wrapped up in a pink dressing gown and towel over her hair. He was within an inch of telling herself small mercies before she leapt on the bed, pointed at him and proclaimed “Sleepover!” in her cheeriest tones (who was this awake in the morning? How much Red Bull had she already had?) and he scrambled back, one hand missing the edge of the bed and sending him tumbling to the floor. Ouch. And now Elle was looking down at him, hair escaping her towel turban and pre-makeup. Oh wow.

Oh

Wow. 

“Oh god, I am sorry. Guess I was more tired than I thought. Your bed is… surprisingly comfortable. “ He averted his eyes, missing the face preceding the snort of laughter.

“I know. It is mine. And you owe me for the great argument you slept through!” An accusing finger pointed down from on high, and he reached back for something to shield himself with, and no, not that. God, couldn’t she pick up her bras? Behind that was a comforting feel of a familiar shoe and he grasped it, as ineffectual as it may be.  
“I will love to hear it when you make it in class, but I really can’t stay longer. I shouldn’t have even fallen asleep, there’s the tutorial syllabus and-“ and his sanity because this was not the time, he didn’t need this distraction, and she was in love with Warner. He turned for the other shoe, pulling them on and ignoring the laces. She was watching him still, he could feel her eyes, and just please do not let it be pitying. 

“I at least deserve a clap if I win this one in class.” And he would probably agree to anything right now, gave her a thumbs up while pulling on his satchel, and his papers were by her still open notebook which caught his eye and-

“With those notes, I have no doubt of your winning. Thorough and sparkly.” Tutorial syllabus retrieved. Shoes on, satchel on, he turned to say goodbye but there was that quietly proud look again, and how hard had law school been with no one on her side? He had his mom to call, at least, but whether her parents would understand… well. He held out an arm and she fell into it, warm and flower scented from the shower and he squeezed her shoulder once before disengaging. 

“Gotta finish this, shower and change before meeting Callahan. Good luck with the rest of your notes.” 

“Thanks, Emmett. See you in class!” 

He caught the brief flicker of a wave as he pulled the door closed behind him, and collapsed back against it. He did not need this, it had already taken a toll on his work and he did not have the time to mope here. He smoothed down his sweatshirt front and started making tracks towards his flat. Food could wait until he was actually prepared to meet with Callahan and show him he was responsible, not a weak mark for pretty blonde hair even if it was concealing a mind sharper than one of Callahan's suits.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been through this a couple of times to try and scrub out the New Zealandisms (and Britishisms) that are part of my natural speech - flat rather than apartment, jersey not sweatshirt, mum vs mom etc. Apologies if I overlooked any. Also if I called Warner Warren, as happened a couple of times in the draft. 
> 
> I may have fudged the definition of T.A. here - do they have the same responsibilities as tutors in NZ universities? Are law tutors different from Classical Studies tutors? American Culture is a language not taught (or comprehensible) over here.


End file.
